Sitting in traffic is the worst way to spend Labor Day weekend. What’s even more frustrating is realizing there was no reason for a traffic jam in the first place.
Why does traffic happen where there seems to be no accidents and no construction work interfering with the flow of cars driving in one direction?
According to Vox, researchers used mathematical calculations on real-world cases and discovered a cause for phantom traffic jams. They found that with enough people on the road, the simplest interruption in traffic flow causes an amplified domino effect. When one car brakes slightly, the person behind them brakes slightly harder to avoid an accident, and the car behind that one breaks even harder, etc. Eventually this chain reaction creates a wave effect of completely stopped or slowed traffic.
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